Prior to the Covid lockdowns many people used to go to the library in person. Since then people have gotten into the habit of reading their books from a distance on e-readers. It’s not the same as an in-person visit as it used to be. Seeing the librarians, saying hello to regulars at the library and sipping on a cup of mocha at the attached coffee shop like at the Downtown St Paul Library or at the Ramsey County Library in Roseville MN.

It was also a plus when area school children had their artwork displayed in public. There are some great budding artists out there.

Metropolitan Library Service Agency, or MELSA has an E-Reader System called The Libby App by Overdrive or Libby for short.

Here’s a video from another public library in Texas, with an informal tutorial.

Libby books can be read on a Kindle device, in fact it will ask you which method of viewing your book selections you’d like to read it on. On my laptop computer it makes use of the full screen. It is crisp and fluid in its functioning.

The best news is being able to borrow magazines. Another favorite activity of many at a Library was to go to the area near the fireplace and read, or leaf through a magazine. Libby has that covered. There is no crinkle of pages or the sometimes hard to turn a page due to the metal spine.  The magazine pages are vivid and you can enlarge them or just leaf through the pages as you would in an actual magazine.  The best thing is it won’t take up too much space on your coffee or end table.

Life has returned to as close as normal as it was before Covid lockdowns. One can still use the e-reader but there are just some things your devices can’t replicate online.  Some of the things are seeing the librarians and saying hello, enjoying a mocha from Dunn Brothers, or hearing Howard’s Countdown Trivia at the Roseville Library in the last hour before closing.